Nap

Does your LO still take one? Mine takes one about every other day but for the most part still needs one everyday. He is a cranky mess if he doesn't take one :( He gets up at 8am and he's in bed by 8pm (he's in bed, this doesn't mean he's asleep). Any advice? Should I drop the nap and put him to bed a lil earlier or just keep giving him nap time and just deal with it if he doesn't sleep.

My son naps at day care but not normally at home unless he falls asleep in the car. On day care days he does not go to sleep at night until 10 or so, but on no nap days he is out by 8. You could try bumping up bedtime by an hour on days he doesn't nap... Seems to work for us. Good luck, it is such a tricky balance!

DD rarely naps these days (she hasn't napped consistantly since about 18 months).

We still give her the chance to nap, leaving her in her crib (with all her sleep time toys) for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Even if she doesn't sleep that "quiet" time seems to calm her down and make the afternoon's easier to us.

She's pretty crazy and hyper after "nap-time", and will go to bed an hour earlier than if she napped. She's generally more difficult to deal with and quicker to melt downs on no-nap days, but we still like to give her (and us) the time to regroup.

Once she gets out of her crib and into a bed, we'll likely continue "quiet" time - and maybe keep her lights on and leave more toys/books around the room for her to play with.

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Isabella (Bella) Hannah born April 21, 2011Callum Eric born December 17, 2013

Yes, most days. She probably misses her nap 3 days/month on a weekend when she is having too much fun hanging out and doesn't want to leave.. sometimes in this situation though, I will take her for a short drive in the car to get her to knock out, and then go lay her down and let her wake up when she wants. I have even had her just sleep in the car (with me in it and it running of course-waste of gas, I know), if we are at a family thing at the park or something. Then when she wakes, go rejoin the party. It is worth it for her not to be a hot mess. She usually will get a 1-1.5 hr nap on those days. Her week days are always the same though. She goes to bed around 8PM, wakes at 6AM and takes a 2 hr nap 12:30-2:30PM. Weekends, we mess her up a bit since we let her stay up later and sleep in, then we jack up her naps too. At least having the same schedule most days works well for her.

oh ya ..my advice would be to wake up your LO earlier. They need about 12-13 hrs of sleep total in a 24 hr period, so if they get all their sleep at night, it will be harder to get them to nap, so if you do 9PM-7AM, then your LO will need a 2 hr nap. ;)

dd gets up about 8:30 but doesnt go to bed till 10:30. she usually naps around 2 for 60-90 min. maybe once a week or so she just wont take a nap, but she'll get very tired & cranky when she does miss one.

naps about 2- 2/12 hours a day...definitely still need the nap here. She goes to sleep around 7:30 and sleeps until 6/7am the past week waking at 5:30 but I kept the nap the same and seems she is back on track these past few days.

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